


Oh No, There Were Two Beds

by Puffinpastry



Series: Poison Ivy [2]
Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Discussion of past medical conditions, Established Relationship, Evil sea turtles, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Scars, body piercings, i tried to keep the angst out but it broke down the doors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:28:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27580717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puffinpastry/pseuds/Puffinpastry
Summary: They’d been calling for snow for days now. Maybe even weeks.But the birds hadn’t been singing all that loud, and there wasn’t much of a halo to be seen around the moon.Those two things partnered with the fact that the snow just never bothered showing up, meant that no one was really prepared for the storm to actually hit.
Relationships: Camus | Erik/Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI)
Series: Poison Ivy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016034
Comments: 7
Kudos: 19





	1. A subversion of a classic trope, that’s the joke.

**Author's Note:**

> So this takes place later on in the first fic in this series, and it’ll probably be a bit before that fic catches up here, but this idea woke me up at 3am last night and I’ve been writing it all day so.... Enjoy!

They’d been calling for snow for days now. Maybe even weeks, but they most they had to show for it was the lightest of white dusting on the ground..

The birds hadn’t been singing all that loud, and there wasn’t much of a halo to be seen around the moon.

Those two things partnered with the fact that the snow just never bothered showing up, meant that no one was really prepared for the storm to  _ actually  _ hit. 

“Fuck.” Eleven had nothing more to say as they both stepped through the doors. It wasn’t much at the moment, but from the look of the cloud covering… 

“We need to get going.” Erik said, taking the first step forward from beneath the overhang. “If we wanna beat that—  _ woah!”  _

Eleven saw the ice just seconds before Erik did. A thin, clear layer over the black asphalt. Shining  _ just  _ a bit too much to be anything besides that. 

A hand around his arm and another around his waist, Eleven pulled him back to the clear sidewalk before his legs could slide out from under him.

“Shit. Thanks.” Erik gave him a wobbly smile, and stood back up straight, eyeing the pavement again. 

“Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t just going to let you fall. Black ice.” Eleven sighed. “We’re stuck.” 

“Hey, it’s not that bad.” Erik pointed out, “They’ll come by and salt the roads soon enough. So we’ll be a little late, big deal.” 

No, not really anything to really worry about. 

Except the fact it  _ was  _ late already, and unless Erik wanted to sit outside all night once everything around them closed for the night, or brave the ice for Eleven’s car… 

“There’s a hotel over there.” Erik found no hesitance to point out.

Eleven didn’t respond right away, but followed to where Erik was looking.

It  _ was  _ an option, but…

He glanced around the rest of the center. 

Shops already closed and dark, restaurants all preparing to close up as well.

They  _ could  _ see another movie, but… 

Eleven grimaced. It wouldn’t be long before they closed as well. And he didn’t particularly want to be subjected to another ninety minutes of what Erik seemed to be considered high entertainment. 

So, they had one option. 

“What about Mia?” Eleven asked, stalling for some reason he wasn’t quite sure of. “Should you call her?” 

“Eh, if she even notices I’m gone she’ll just assume I went home with you.” Oh,  _ lovely.  _ “What about your sister?”

“I’ll text her.” Eleven answered, having known he was going to have to the moment he saw the ice. “I don’t know if she’ll see it right away but it’ll be better than letting her worry.”

Erik took a moment to speak, chewing on the words, as if he wasn’t sure he should actually say them.

“...Do you think she worries too much?”

“I…” Eleven looked back at the ground. Yeah, he did. She worried like a mother hen, and he’d be the first to admit it often became grating. But he knew why she did it. “Sometimes, yes. But in the end, it’s not without reason.”

“No?”

“No. I’m…” Eleven groaned, dragging a hand over his eyes. This was  _ not  _ a conversation he was ready to have. “Enough about that. Can we talk about something else? Please?”

“Sure. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to intrude on anything.” To his endless relief, Erik agreed without showing any sort of frustration with him. 

Eleven would have to remember to never take that understanding for granted.

Maybe that was what kept him around, even through all the disaster in the start, the tension, the ridiculousness that kept cropping up.

No matter what, if Eleven was uncomfortable, Erik never pressed. 

“You don’t need to apologize.” And it would only be right to extend that same kindness out, should he ever need to. “You aren’t intruding by just asking. It’s just not something I’m fond of talking about.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

“Thank you.” Eleven said, hoping that his gratitude really made it across. “I’m sure you’ll hear it sooner or laterer, anyway.”

“You don’t have to tell me.” Erik assured him, taking on a serious look that didn’t entirely suit him. Even in the hospital he kept himself lighthearted. 

“No.” Eleven began walking, careful of where he was putting his feet once he was out of the overhang, unsure of how far the ice went. “It’s… If you’re going to be around, you deserve to know. I just need some more time.”

Erik followed just behind. “Are you okay?”

There was the million dollar question. When was he ever okay, these days?

Things were better, but they were never alright. 

But it was getting easier to pretend, easier to smile without feeling rotten.

“I’m getting there.” 

It wasn’t a yes.

But it wasn’t a no, either.

Erik was getting uncomfortably used to that sort of answer. But if it was what Eleven could admit to, then it was what he would accept.

And honestly… It was better. 

It was better than Eleven lying and pretending all was well when it clearly was not.

“Okay. In that case… You not too scared by that movie? Out here, in the dark…” Erik trailed off in a way that Eleven was sure was meant to be meangingful… But with the glow of the streetlights and the neon signs, it didn’t really carry all that much. 

“It was just a movie.” Eleven said, smiling at the change of topic. He’d truly lost interest in the plot about a third of the way in, but the same could be said about the movie, too. Whatever little plot threads it picks up in the beginning shoved to the side for the sake of a gorefest. 

Shocking, for approximately two minutes.

It was hard to stay scared when you could pick out every little mistake. But nitpicking bad movies was its own kind of fun, and Erik had laughed with him in the nearly-empty room whenever he decided one detail or another was worth commenting on. 

“But it was  _ scary,  _ right?” Erik pressed, intent on getting whatever his goal had originally been before the movie fell flat on its face. “You need me to keep an eye out? Hold your hand?”

“Was  _ that  _ your motive for picking that movie?” If that was the case… Honestly, Eleven would be relieved. Erik didn’t just have bad taste, he just had stupid ideas. 

“I’m here to protect you.”

“You are literally half my weight.” Maybe not  _ literally.  _ But it was close enough.

“I’m lithe.” Erik argued.

“You’re small.” 

“Okay, fine then.  _ I’m  _ scared. Hold my hand?”

“You don’t need a scary movie for that.” Eleven held out his hand anyway, and Erik took it with a grin, tucking himself close to Eleven’s side. 

If one of them slipped again, they’d both end up on the ice and pavement.

But Eleven couldn’t find it in himself to mind. 

~~

The door shut and locked behind them, and Erik wasted not a second in throwing himself halfway across one of the beds, the springs protesting weakly for a moment. 

_ Dramatic. _

Eleven, however, instead made right for the thermostat, turning it up as high as it would let him.

He could lower it again in a bit, but for now… There was ice in his hair and snowmelt in his shoes. 

He wasn’t wasting time with the slow to start heater. 

“Good god.” Erik said over the repetitive beeping, “What are you setting that thing to?”

“Uh… Looks like just 73.” Eleven answered as the button stopped working, locking him in at what could be argued as a reasonable temperature. Bastards. “I’ll change it back down after it warms up.”

“Fine by me.” Erik said, still not moved from where he lay on his stomach, legs dangling off the side. “You gonna relax?”

“Hold on a moment.” Eleven said, hiking up the collar of his coat. It wasn’t cold inside. But he wasn’t sure what to do, really.

“I need to tell Jade.”

Pulling out his phone, he shot off a simple text.

**_Ellie:_ ** _ I’m going to be late getting home. Road iced over. _

**_Jade:_ ** _ How late?  _

Came the instantaneous reply. 

Really, for someone who claimed left and right that she didn’t in fact live on her phone… 

It occurred to Eleven that it may have been the truth, but that he made an exception to that fact. 

He tried not to think about that.

**_Ellie:_ ** _ Few hours at the least. Until it’s safe to drive again.  _

**_Jade:_ ** _ Still with Erik?  _

What kind of question… Of course Erik hadn’t just  _ left  _ him out in the snow!

**_Ellie:_ ** _ Of course. We’ve checked into a hotel in the meantime. _

**_Jade:_ ** _ I see. Will you be home tonight?  _

Eleven colored beet red.

**_Ellie:_ ** _ Where else would I be? _

**_Jade:_ ** _ I think you know exactly where. Serena and I are about to go to bed. I’ll leave my phone on just in case. Goodnight, Ellie.  _

Now, that was a far cry different from what he was accustomed to. Whatever had happened changed her view on Erik quicker than he could comprehend. 

Maybe he could drag the story out of Erik.

“What’s she saying?”

Eleven glanced over to where Erik still lay half-sprawled on the bed, still fully clothed. Getting snow all on the puffy white blanket. 

_ Long as it’s  _ his  _ bed…  _

“Not much.” Eleven lied, setting his own phone down on the side table, and unzipping his coat. Hopefully Erik would interpret the redness on his face as nothing more than leftover from the cold outside. “And I suggest you get off the bed and get your coat off unless you  _ want  _ to sleep on wet sheets.”

“Does it matter?” Erik asked, sufficiently distracted from whatever it was Jade said. “Not really like we  _ need  _ two beds, right?”

Oh. Well. It would seem as though Jade wasn’t wrong in her assumptions. 

“No.” Eleven agreed, “I guess we don’t.” 

Erik got up while Eleven let his own snow-soaked coat rest over the back of a chair, to pull aside the curtains. “Holy.” He pulled the curtains further back, and gestured for Eleven to come look. “We couldn’t have made it in here at a better time.”

El peered out. It was already well past ten at night, and aside from the streetlights, pitch black.

But in those orange lights, he saw the snow. Only ice on the roads when they’d left the theater, now piling high with falling snow. 

Not a single person to be seen fighting the storm, all safe inside one building or another.

“Close that.” Eleven said, shivering despite being inside. “You’re letting all the heat out.” 

Erik let the blinds and curtains shut and grinned. “Not fond of a little snow?”

“Not particularly.” Eleven answered. He didn’t  _ mind  _ the snow. Didn’t moan and complain when the weather turned, but when you had to come to work in the dark in freezing temperatures, he was often tempted to start. “I like it just a bit warmer out. When it’s  _ not  _ dangerous to drive home.”

“Looks like home out there to me.” Erik said, toeing off his shoes and letting them sit in the middle of the floor. And at Eleven’s blank look, explained. “I’m from  _ a lot  _ further up north.”

_ Oh, fantastic.  _ Eleven had dealt with more than his fair share of snowbirds. He knew what to expect. “Great. You’d better not start going off about our pizza and accents down here.”

“I wasn’t planning on it. But now that ya mention…” The last few words took on a thick, fake southern drawl, and Eleven could only hope that his face showed the appropriate amount of scorn. Even though deeper down he knew he was closer to thinking  _ shit, do I really sound like that? _

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Settle down.” 

Eleven didn’t move, and the smile slipped away. “Eh, yeah. Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” 

“It’s okay.” Eleven said, trying to smooth out the unreasonable frustration. If he was gonna make a joke about the typical person who moved here from up north, then Erik could make a simple joke about his accent. “Sorry, I overreacted.” 

And though with the apology, and the easy way Erik accepted it the tension should have dropped, it only felt like it got worse.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and El dug it out, expecting something more from Jade.

But instead, he found himself with a weather alert.

Just a few hours too late to help anyone.

The snow was expected to fall through the night.

And as such… No trucks out to salt the roads.

They were trapped.

But was that really such a bad thing?

As Eleven relayed the news, Erik certainly didn’t seem to think so, stepping just that little bit closer.

“But… It’d be a waste to just go to bed, wouldn’t it?”

Literally? Yes. It would be a waste. 

It wasn’t so much that they didn’t want or didn’t have the time to do anything more intimate than what the very limited privacy of his car, or say, the dark of a movie theatre allowed.

His work schedule combined with the fact he very much did not live alone, coupled with the exact same trouble for Erik meant they just didn’t have the space, unless they really wanted family introductions to go very, very fast. 

But that was certainly no issue here.

But Erik took his silence for uncertainty, and moved back a step. “You know, if you aren’t ready, or if you just don’t want to all, that’s fine too.”

“When do I ever do things I don’t want to?” Eleven cut in to ask, but at the blank look Erik returned with, he saw the issue. “I- forget it.”

“So that’s a no.” 

“No, it’s not a  _ no.  _ I just.” Wasn’t expecting this to be how tonight went? And as such… There were a few things he hadn’t really had the chance to explain. “I’ve got a couple scars. And they aren’t really pretty.” 

Erik gave him a blank look. “You are talking to the wrong person about scars.”

The back of his hand, the slight discoloration on his arm from the poison ivy… “Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am.”

“Told you.” Erik said with a smile, but took one moment to answer genuinely. “Seriously, no scar is gonna bug me out. Promise.” 

“Thank you.” Eleven said.

“Nope, none of that.” Erik said, hands trailing down from his shoulders to his wrists, stepping back and leading El with him. “Wasted enough time on that, haven’t we?”

That he could agree with. 

Just as Erik pushed him back against the bed, he only moved to rest back against the headboard before Erik followed, and picked right back up where they’d left off, except instead of Erik’s lips finding his own, they trailed along his jaw, until he found a sensitive spot just under his ear, while his hands found the hem of his sweater. 

And as nice as that was, El had decided enough was enough, and tried to grab at Erik’s belt.

And Erik was having none of that. 

“Nope, you hold on just a moment.” Erik took Eleven’s hands away from the buckle of his belt, and pressed them down to the sheets by his head. “You’ve already seen my body. Don’t you think it’s only fair I get to see yours now?”

“I’ve seen you naked once, in a professional environment, while you were covered in poison ivy. Trust me, I wasn’t exactly checking you out.”

“It’s been more than once. You saw my ass before I went under for my broken foot.”

“Ah, yes.” Eleven kept his hands where Erik had put them, content to play his game no matter how ridiculous the thought was. “Nothing more erotic than shattered metatarsals and anasthesia induced rambling.”

“See?” Erik said, joking as if he wasn’t currently straddling Eleven’s hips, or taking  _ too long by far  _ to actually  _ do  _ anything. “I’m jealous.”

“What,” Eleven asked, feeling a smile tug at his mouth before he even said what popped into his mind, “You want to see the internal bone structure of my foot?”

“Maybe I do,” Erik said, “You don’t know me.”

“Fine, we’ll play fair then.” Eleven agreed, and let his sweater join the growing piles on the floor, soon followed by the tank he wore beneath. 

And just as Erik promised, his eyes didn’t linger on the thick scar that ran a line down his sternum. Only stopping on it briefly before his eyes found the small pattern and date inked along his collarbone. 

And even that was ignored for the time being.

There would be questions, but they would come later.

Erik’s hands ran down the panes of his stomach, and a chill ran over his skin. “Work out much, doctor?” 

“MMA.” Eleven answered. “Sister’s an instructor and,” the word turned into a hiss as Erik’s teeth grazed his skin, “she doesn’t let me slack off.” 

“Thank you, El’s sister.” Erik said against the reddening mark he’d left, nails on his sides. 

That single spark of touch, not enough to be painful, not enough to be pleasurable, was the last straw for El. 

So he liked muscles?

El could give him that. 

In two moves he had their positions flipped, and for all his talk, Erik submitted to it all too happily. 

But when El got his T-shirt and jeans off, he found himself distracted by two bits of gleaming silver metal.

One barbell piercing through each nipple.

_ How  _ had he never seen those?

He glanced up to Erik’s eyes, just to find him laying back on the pillows, head pillowed in his arms and giving him a cocky grin.

Well, if that was how he was going to act… 

Eleven could play along.

“Oh, oh  _ shit.” _ He only distantly heard Erik say as he got to work with teeth and tongue.

As if Erik hadn’t really expected him to do anything.

Some men liked to pretend they didn’t have any such things on their chests, refusing to let their partners touch their chests, as if it made them more feminine somehow. 

And if Erik had expected the same of him… Then he was in for a surprise. 

But it didn’t seem like Erik was going to be in the right state for  _ thinking  _ much longer. 

His hands had found El’s forearms and held tight as he left nips and little red marks across his skin, and as Erik shivered under his touch as El’s mouth found the other barbell. 

Erik’s breath was quickly turning to short pants, and his nails left little half-moon indents into his arms before his hips canted up into El’s, seeking any extra stimulation.

But with the feeling of Erik’s arousal against his own, El lost the thread of what he was doing, teeth finding the juncture of his neck and shoulder, and his hands grabbed at Erik’s hips to grind back against him.

Erik’s hands moved from his arms to over his shoulders, the nails on one hand digging into his back, and the fingers of the other tangling into his hair.

El could have finished that way and been perfectly content, if not for the problem that he didn’t exactly have a change of clothes handy. So, relunctantly, he let go. 

“Never really understood why people get these kinds of piercings.” Eleven found it appropriate to say after taking away his mouth and hands to just admire the littering of red marks he’d left over Erik’s chest.

“You fucking joking?” Erik asked through another shiver, “You nearly make me come in my pants, and you ask  _ why  _ people get these?” 

Eleven made a note to chase that last thread later. If Erik really could come with nothing but his piercings… He was  _ definitely  _ interested in seeing that later. “My guess was either that they just looked good, or that. Guess that answers that.” 

“You ever thought about getting anything pierced?” Erik asked, laying back and dragging an eye down his exposed skin. 

“I almost got a Prince Albert when I was eighteen.” Eleven admitted, “I was at the shop and everything, but the person ahead of me screamed and I chickened out.” 

Erik let out a short, barking laugh, but it only made El smile more. He knew he wasn’t being laughed  _ at.  _

“Smart move! That’s a big one to go for right out the starting gate.”

Smart move for a dumbass kid. He couldn’t say he was  _ entirely  _ innocent of teenaged mistakes, but… Erik would find out soon enough. “I’m glad I changed my mind.” 

“Probably for the best, but… Would feel pretty good.”

Eleven laughed, “Yeah. After the three months of healing. Where’d that leave you in the meantime?”

“Hey, I’ve got my hand, don’t I?” Erik asked, and as if for  _ proof,  _ wrapped his fingers around the bulge in his underwear, drawing El’s eyes to the damp patch.  _ Shit,  _ he really wasn’t lying about the piercings, was he?

Erik needed to shut up so they could get back up to speed. “Or… We could always get you a strap.” 

_ That  _ he wasn’t prepared for. “A  _ strap?” _

“Yeah. It’d be hot.” 

“If you say so.” Eleven just about managed. He didn’t know what was wrong with his real dick, considering Erik hadn’t even  _ seen  _ it yet.

But Erik had already moved on. “You’d look good with a navel. Something showy.”

“A  _ navel?” _

“Yeah. All about what you want to show off.”

“And you think I want to show off my belly button?” Eleven asked, a new kind of confused every few minutes.

“No, dumbass.” Erik rolled his eyes, and pushed back at El, hands again lingering over his stomach before they found his belt.

_ “Muscles.” _

Belt undone, El lifted his hips for Erik to pull his pants down to his knees.

His eyes went big. “Fuck. Okay, I want you inside me. That cool?”

Was that  _ cool?  _

Like there was any other way to respond… Except for one, tiny, glaring little problem. 

Eleven didn’t exactly carry lubricant around with him. And he wasn’t stupid enough to try and use soap, or god forbid, spit. 

“I mean, yeah. But…”

“But…?” 

“We don’t have any…” He trailed off, feeling himself flush yet again. 

But that was all the information Erik needed. “Oh, fuck. Almost forgot. Hold on.”

Without anything else said, Erik climbed over him and made for where he’d abandoned his coat on the floor.

“What’re you…” Eleven trailed off as Erik held up his prize, dug from one of the  _ many  _ pockets of his coat. A small tube, probably not much bigger than the tiny travel-sized shampoo bottle that was surely in the bathroom. Still, it made him wonder what  _ else  _ was hidden in that coat. 

“You… you just have that. Of course you do.” Eleven took a deep breath, unprepared for the coming months, or even the coming night, really. “Been planning this a while?”

“A man can live in hope.” Erik said, walking back over and holding the tube out. “Now, are you going to prep me, or are you just gonna sit there like an idiot with your pants half-down?”

And, well… El might be stupid, but he wasn’t an idiot.

And it wasn’t long before he had Erik beneath him again, and two fingers in to the knuckle.

Swallowing down each little half-formed sound Erik made.

But as his fingers brushed against yet more skin-warmed metal, he paused. 

“Seriously?”

Erik just grinned, “Like it?”

El took the liberty to take a look, to know just what he was dealing with now. 

A single silver ring through his perineum.

“Any more I should know about?”

“Not at the moment.” Erik said, and El was only  _ halfway  _ sure he was joking. “Come on, you’ve done enough. Just fuck me already.” 

“Do I need to worry about that thing?” El asked, but Erik was hardly listening, and it was hard to keep track of his own thoughts anyway, with Erik hard and dripping for him, nearly begging.

“Don’t bother with it.” Erik told him, “some other time.”

_ Some other time?  _ Eleven wanted to ask, but his patience was running out.  _ Later.  _ He could ask later.

It didn’t take much maneuvering to get Erik on his knees, or El settled behind him.

“Okay…” Erik gave him the go-ahead with a tap from the heel of his foot to his back. “Move.”

El fought against the instinct to just pull back, and just rut, fast and hard and rough-

But they’d had enough false starts and distractions now. 

This was their first time together, even if it hadn’t exactly been what he had imagined. 

He could still make it nice, make it gentle and slow. 

But as he failed to pick up any kind of speed, Erik glared up at him. “Seriously?” It was his turn to ask, “Is that all you’ve got?”

“I..” Eleven stopped, the slow warmth fizzling out. Though to be fair, there hadn’t actually been all that much of it. “No?” He tried, and Erik groaned. “I’m sorry, was I doing something —  _ hey!”  _

Eleven yelped as Erik easily pulled himself off, and twisted them around. To seat himself on top, the bed springs creaking in protest. 

“You want gentle, we can go gentle.” He said, hands holding down against El’s arms. “But… I don’t think you really want to be gentle, do you?”

Eleven felt his face heat up, which really was the most surprising part of all this. With how many times he’d found himself embarrassed, it was really just time for his face to pick a color and stick with it.

“So you like being jerked around?”

Eleven could only nod, as Erik rolled his hips, over and over, leaving El’s fingers digging into the sheets for purchase. 

“That’s good.” Erik said, bearing down and starting to move harder, “Because I think I’m going to like ordering you around.”

_ “Fuck.”  _ Eleven didn’t know if it was what Erik was saying, or what he was doing that finally made him move, grab at Erik’s hips and thrust up to meet Erik each time he came down. 

“There! Knew you had it in you somewhere.” Erik said, but didn’t let Eleven’s slightly regained control last, pressing one of his hands back against the bed, but moving the other between his legs. “If you really want to touch me, keep it here.”

Eleven followed the order, keeping his hand where it was placed, jerking up with each of Erik’s movements, swiping his thumb over the tip.

Erik slowed just a hair, just enough to keep himself on the edge, rather than over it. “I bet you’d agree to just about anything right now.” He teased, hands pressing down against El’s chest. “Anything I wanted.”

Eleven barely heard, but agreed anyway. Anything, it didn’t matter. Anything to keep him moving like that, anything to keep-

The hands on his arms dug their nails into his skin, wetness on his hand, and a low, drawn-out moan in his ear.

One that he matched as the movement all stopped, and he was left on the brink with nothing to finish him.

“You’re still hard.” Erik belatedly noticed.

El didn’t react. It was fine, if Erik was done then he could just head over to the bathroom and-

“Why did you stop?” Erik asked, interrupting his train of thought. 

“What?”

“Why’d you stop moving? If you aren’t done, go ahead.”

“But-“ Eleven tried to protest, “You’ve already come, you’re over sensitive-“

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Erik pushed back up, and for the first time El stopped to appreciate the flush on his cheeks, the redness that spread down his collar and over his shoulders. “Am I going to have to finish you myself?”

“Would it be such a bad thing if you did?” Eleven said, not entirely sure where the words were coming from, but he wasn’t going to fight them. 

If Erik wanted more, he was going to need to take it for himself.

And Erik… Seemed all too happy about that option.

“Alright, then… If you insist.”

He started again, and Eleven saw white. 

~~

“Can I ask how you got this scar? It looks surgical.” 

Erik’s finger traced lightly over the raised skin, but the tissue was half-dead. Eleven could hardly feel it. 

“It’s not a fun story.” He warned, but he was ready to answer, having plenty of time to prepare. “But if you want to hear it, I’ll tell you.”

“We’ve all got those stories.” Erik murmured, and Eleven wondered if he would even stay awake through the entire thing. “I’d like to hear yours.” 

“I had heart surgery.” Eleven began. He knew the story  _ (heh)  _ by heart, having lived through it, but telling it… It always felt like fiction. Like he was relaying someone else’s history, like the boy in his memory was someone else entirely. “I was fourteen or fifteen, can’t remember which. Just after Christmas. I remember more about that morning than I do the surgery. It wasn’t bad enough that they thought I wouldn’t make it, but… I was a kid. I was scared, and Jade and Mum both tried to make it the best they could for me.” Jade was only five years older than him. Still young enough to enjoy Christmas like a child, but instead she’d pitched in just as much as their mother to help. 

“‘s good of them.” Erik said, gently drawing El back out of his thoughts. “Surgery is always a little scary, isn’t it?” 

Eleven knew his own team of specialists. Knew their accomplishments, what they had done, how many of patients just like him they had helped, and hell. He was a surgeon, too. 

But he still knew the fluttery heartbeat and the jolts of fear… even as his mind stayed calm, his body didn’t. “Yeah.” He agreed, and again found his voice. “They diagnosed me with arrhythmia when I was ten. I was a quiet kid. I wasn’t all that active, so we just didn’t know to look for anything sooner and… Most doctors don’t look at a kid and think of heart failure _ ,  _ do they?”

“Shit.” Erik sounded a little more awake, but struggled to find anything more to say.

Which was fair. Eleven wouldn’t know what to say, either. “How’d they find it.”

“I don’t mean it  _ failed,  _ I’m sorry. I was exaggerating a bit.” Eleven sighed. This is when it all seemed to fall apart for him. “I had a bad valve, and my doctor didn’t check for that. Blamed a bad diet and a lazy kid and gave me some pills to keep my heart rate up and some orders to exercise. They didn’t really work, and it wasn’t a year later that I started fainting.” That doctor was lucky Amber didn’t have the heart (or the means) to press charges.

Eleven just hoped he didn’t make the same mistake for any other child.

“And you got better help?”

“Took two doctors and a flight out of state to see a pediatric specialist, but yeah. I did. I got surgery, got the valve replaced with a piece of metal, but it’s doing a better job than my real one did, so I don’t really care.” 

“You’re gonna be okay, though?”

“I have medicine I take now, and I still see someone regularly to check up on it but… Yeah. Yeah, I’m gonna be okay.” It was the truth, everything looked fine. That first surgery went without a hitch, and he’d had only minimal trouble since. The heart was never something that bothered him.

But it had bothered others.

“But… It’s tough. There’s a chance that I might need surgery again, that it’ll get worse. And… It’s a little too late to say this, but if you leave, I’d understand.”

Erik’s head pillowed on his shoulder, hand over his chest and an arm under the back of his neck… 

He could only just hold on. 

It would hurt, if Erik chose to go. Be it tonight or any other.

But it always hurt worse when it was because of his heart, because no one was willing or open to help shoulder that kind of-

_ “What?”  _ Erik’s voice felt like ice against his skin, a cold contrast to how warm and kind he had been the rest of the night. 

“If this is a dealbreaker, I get it.” Eleven said. He really  _ did  _ get it. He wouldn’t hold it against anyone. He knew-

Erik was gone from his side.

Now, instead of warm and soft against his side, Erik was above him again, lips soft against his, one effective way of shutting him up. 

And when he pulled back away, and Eleven was free to see him again, he was shocked to find an unusual, deep sadness in the ocean-like blue. “I’m not leaving you over something like that. Not ever.” 

“Erik.” Eleven tried to argue, but found himself lacking any coherent points to make. 

“Well, if it means anything, you’ve got the coolest scar between us. I don’t have anything on that.”

“Yeah?” Eleven grinned in the dark, “Not even  _ this?”  _ Erik yelped as his hand closed over the large, diamond-shaped scar on his ass and squeezed.

“Yeah, even  _ that.”  _

“How did you even get that?”

“Sea turtle bite.” Erik said, like it was mundane. 

_“Sea turtle.”_ Eleven repeated. “Erik, you astounding, beautiful creature — what the fuck does that mean?”

“Her name is Hatch and she hates my guts.”  _ Oh.  _ He literally meant a sea turtle. 

“What did you do to the poor thing?”

“Nothing!” Erik groaned dramatically, one hand reaching up in the air. “Everyone always asks that,  _ ‘Erik, what did you do to that poor turtle?’  _ But no one ever asks,  _ ‘Erik, what did that turtle  _ do  _ to  _ you?”

“I think it bit you right on the ass. I just don’t know  _ why.” _

“Welcome to the club.” Erik deadpanned. “Hatch hates me, even though I feed her and give her scratches and clean her shell.”

“Maybe it’s like what they tell little kids, ‘if they pick on you, it means they like you.’”

“Yeah, that's bullshit.” Erik pointed out. “But… If you’re right, imma need some backup when it's time to tell Hatch I’m taken.” 

Eleven was ready to fall asleep happy, when one last question came. “The heart thing… That’s why you became a doctor?”

“It’s… Part of the reason.” Eleven answered. Really, if that had been it, he’d be in a much more specific field right now, but he would be lying if he said it didn’t factor in at all. “I was a paramedic before, but… That’s a hard job. I just wasn’t cut out for it.”

“But you’re cut out to be an emergency doctor?” 

“Seems so.” Eleven said, hoping that was true. “I didn’t go into medicine hoping to make any big discoveries. I don’t need my name out there, or the money, or any awards shit my professors kept pushing. I just… I just want to help where I can.” 

“That’s more important, isn’t it?” Erik asked, “Just helping? That seems like an important enough reason to me.”

Eleven shrugged, then quietly apologized as he dislodged Erik from his pillow.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m dumb. I’m just a guy that likes fish, but… I think you’ve done a plenty good job.”

“You haven’t seen my whole career.” Eleven argued.

“No.” He admitted, “But you’ve helped me a ton, and plenty of others in that ER, and that’s worth something isn’t it?”

~~

When Erik woke, the room was completely dark, save for the red glow of the digital clock.

It took him a moment to realize where he was, confused by the darkened quiet, the lack of sound from the kitchen, music from Mia’s room, or the rustling of leaves in Charlie’s enclosure. 

But then he felt the skin against his own, the legs tangled in his shift just ever so slightly in sleep, and Eleven sighed. 

Still out cold.

_ Good.  _

Just before eight.

Check-out was ten. 

But… If Erik had to guess, he’d say they’d still have some time to kill before the roads were safe, and this time of year in this part of town… It was safe to say the hotel staff wouldn’t really  _ need  _ this room empty. They’d pay another day’s time, no big deal.

Really, this storm was a blessing.

They both needed a break, and Erik hadn’t been aware  _ just  _ how desperately Ellie had needed one. 

Or… What to really make of what all he’d been told over the night. 

Erik knew well that illness and injury struck down those least deserving, but it still always came of a shock to learn of it. 

And how he’d been so calm as he described something that had to have been nothing but terrifying to a child like it was nothing more than a flu, only to follow up explaining that he’d understand if Erik  _ left- _

Part of him understood Jade’s mistrust, now. 

But  _ still. _

It wouldn’t leave him in peace. 

Careful to keep the brightness low as possible as to not wake the man up against his back, Erik shot off a couple of messages to Mia, and then opened a new search tab.

_ Valve repair surgery and prognosis _

Erik let him have space, didn’t press when El was vague, didn’t demand any information from him.

But maybe it was time to start.

Gentle, still leaving the man his privacy… But there were times he couldn’t help but worry when El clammed up and changed the subject.

There were things buried, so close to the surface that they could almost be seen, glimpses possible even when they were strangers.

And just hopefully, soon Ellie would start letting him in.

And he had a few ideas on how to start that chain of events. 


	2. First thing on the wishlist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goddamned codeine.  
> Never again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse for this strangeness, enjoy.

The thing about being in tremendous amounts of pain was that you simply cannot sleep until you’re just too exhausted to care anymore. And when you  _ do  _ finally sleep in that situation, it’s normally dreamless. You sink too deep, your brain so desperate for rest that it simply doesn’t matter anymore.

But the thing about being in an annoying amount of pain is that you want to sleep, you  _ need  _ to sleep, but you can’t ever fall all that deep. Like a mosquito that won’t stop buzzing in your ear, except you can’t take a flyswatter to a broken bone. 

Sleep came light, now that Erik had finished off the codeine that gave him so much…  _ trouble.  _

The NSAID that he’d been given turned out to be nothing more than glorified otc pain reliever. The same thing you take when you get a headache that hurts just a little too much to ignore. 

And as such, he hardly bothered with it. It simply wasn’t worth the trouble of making some toast or cereal or  _ something  _ so that the giant-ass pill didn’t hurt his stomach. 

But _ because  _ sleep was light, it was always far too easy to be woken up, or dream so light that he was aware it  _ was  _ a dream, but with none of the benefits of being a lucid dreamer. 

So when the scene of one such dream began to shift from harmless nonsense to… Ah, something that could also just be described as a little  _ dream  _ of his… A fantasy, one might say, he didn’t think much of it. Just laid back to enjoy the little show his subconscious decided to put on for him.

Maybe even try to remember some of it, file it away somewhere in his mind to save for  _ future use.  _

Soon as he physically could, anyway.

_ Goddamned codeine. _

Never again. 

But the thing about dreams no matter how deep you are in one, there are always little things that are  _ wrong.  _

Maybe the walls move when you aren’t looking close enough. Little things in the background lose focus and shift, or vanish altogether.

Or sometimes these little mistakes are all you can focus on.

But tonight, oddly enough, was the fact that the dream felt all too real. 

Because, at least in Erik’s own case, no matter how real a dream seemed, he couldn’t ever feel it. Pain, pressure, pleasure, nothing.

So when dream El, dream  _ Dr. Lumen,  _ pinned him down and took him in hand, whispering things in his ear that he couldn’t even  _ hear _ over the sensation (as little sense as that made), something was a little bit off, to say the least.

“...El,” The name escaped his lips before he could help himself, one he knew was out loud and not just in his little fantasy world, and  _ yikes.  _ That would be embarrassing if it woke El.

He knew he was… a little pent up, to say the least, but it was one thing for Erik to poke fun at his own unfortunate situation and get an eye roll or a snort and promise that they  _ ‘could do that later’  _ and something entirely different to have a wet dream about his boyfriend… while in the same bed as his boyfriend. 

_ That  _ would be embarrassing to say the very least, and Erik would say that he’s had just about enough of that lately. 

His breath came faster, but it wasn’t until he felt ten points of sharp pain on either side of his hips, did he wake up, and realize that he was not, in fact, just having an especially vivid dream.

And he only had a few moments to realize what was really happening. 

Nails digging into his hips, keeping them against the bed, rather than bucking up into Eleven’s mouth.

And _speaking of that mouth-_ Eleven swallowed around him, and that was just about it. Erik was fairly certain he was about to have a heart attack from the sight alone. Waking up just to open his eyes to see Eleven at the foot of their bed, lips around his cock… “El, _fuck!”_ Awake in a single second, Erik threw his head back against the pillows, dug his hands into the sheets, and gave up any idea of trying to be quiet before he even had enough of a waking mind to have that idea. 

Hips held still or not, his back still arched with the effort of trying to move them anyway, to get even just a little bit more stimulation, anything more to just push him off the brink rather than just  _ holding  _ him there-

Eleven let him go, and what he was so close to was ripped away, slamming him right back down to earth.

Not unlike the sudden jerk from sleep when your brain tells your heart that you’ve fallen. 

“No!” Erik shouted as Eleven’s teeth met in his thigh, and his hips tried to twist away of their own volition. “No, no, no! Don’t stop!” Vocabulary hadn’t had a chance to load in, and it showed. 

“Good morning,” Eleven finally spoke after he was satisfied with the mark he left on Erik, “I’m glad that woke you. Would’ve been a shame if you missed out on the whole thing.” 

It was slow, but eventually, coherent speech returned. Faster than his breath, at least. “What… the hell was that for?”

“Woke up, saw  _ this,”  _ one hand squeezed around the base of his cock, and another half-formed little noise escaped. Unbearably sensitive after only a single edge, “and thought I should help you out. After all, you’ve been asking for a while, haven’t you?”

Asking? For this, specifically? Or just…

Anything at all, really. 

Yeah. It was probably that. But if he was willing to do  _ this… _

Clearly Erik could be a little more creative with his requests. Actually… maybe it was time to bring up that little box he kept safe under his bed, that he’d been just this side of too shy to bring up. “I meant you  _ stopping.”  _ Erik clarified, his breath hitching again as El’s hand began to move.  _ “God.” _

“You don’t have to call me that, bluejay.” Eleven told him.

“Bluejay?”

“Don’t like it?” Eleven asked, deciding for some unknown reason that  _ now  _ was the right time for testing out a new pet name.

“I didn’t say that.” Erik hummed, feeling the pleasure begin to mount again, albeit much slower this time. But that didn’t matter. El could take his time. 

But then he stopped.

Again.

And two times in and Erik was already getting sick of this little game. It had been over a week, and fine, call him impatient, but he wasn’t exactly in the mood for slow and steady love. 

But he only got the chance to whine for a moment before El decided he was being too noisy, complaining just a little too much. 

Erik gasped out as the moment El released his lips, he went for the spot just below his jaw that would have Erik nothing more than putty in his hands in mere moments. “Desperate, are we?”

He didn’t know the half of it.

But Erik was sure he could communicate it. After all, he wasn’t ever above begging. “God, El.” Especially right now. Whatever El wanted, he’d take. Whatever got him where he wanted to be. “Fuck me, please. Suck me off, I don’t care. Just  _ please,” _ teeth on his shoulder, “don’t stop again!”

Eleven hummed, and took the hands grasping at his shoulders to pin against the sheets. “If that’s what you want.” He agreed, and Erik could breathe a sigh of relief. “But I was thinking… I’d very much like to ride you.”

And  _ that  _ sent a jolt right through Erik, and for a moment he felt as though he could come right then and there, before Eleven even got the chance to touch him again.

Thankfully, he had at least that much self control.

But his brain had short circuited long enough that El began to get concerned. “If… that’s okay?” He asked, suddenly unsure of himself. He let Erik’s hands go. “I mean, if you’re more comfortable just bottoming that’s fine, I just thought that it would be easier on you if I did all the work, since you’re still injured, and-”

Rambling. Cute.

“Ellie?” Erik cut him off.

“Yeah?”

“In what world do you live in,” Erik asked, “where that  _ wouldn’t  _ be okay?”

“The world where I asked and you immediately clammed up?”

Alright, fair enough. “Sorry.” Erik apologized, feeling all sorts of strange about having this conversation  _ after  _ Eleven had already gotten started.

Clearly they needed to talk, and Eleven needed to understand that the answer, in most any case, was going to consist of the words  _ ‘yes’  _ and maybe even  _ ‘please.’ _

“Don’t be sorry.” Eleven told him, sitting back up on his knees, just above Erik but  _ still not touching him!  _ “Just relax,” Eleven grinned, and it was too late to stop him, “let me take care of you.”

He wasn’t ever going to be allowed to forget that, was he? But fine, if he wanted to play it that way… “Please. Don’t let me stop you.” He crossed his arms behind his head to wait, and tried to ignore the discomfort in his left shoulder. And then he remembered the brace.

He probably looked pretty stupid instead of cocky, come to think about it. 

No, _that_ was reserved for Eleven again, as he leaned back, lined himself up and — _holy goddamn fuckballs._ He was already prepped? Just what exactly had he been up to before Erik woke up?

Had he  _ planned this? _

You know what, Erik didn’t care. 

Eleven could plan and scheme all he wanted if it meant more things like  _ this.  _

He didn’t care about a lot of things at the moment, as El sank down on him in one movement, and  _ again  _ he had to focus all his concentration and simply  _ not coming  _ and ending all this before it could really even start. 

“You okay?” Eleven asked him, as if it wasn’t  _ Erik  _ that should probably be worried about  _ him. _

But — Eleven just worried about everything.

“I’m good.” Erik assured him, “I’m real good. Are you okay?”

Eleven nodded. “Never better. Just…” he rolled his hips once, testing the waters, and lost track of what he was trying to say. “Just tell me if I need to slow down, or stop. I want you to feel good. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

“You couldn’t hurt me.” Erik promised, knowing exactly what Eleven meant, but choosing to ignore that. He would tell El to stop if he had to, but he didn’t really see that happening. And besides, they had a safeword for a reason. Erik hadn’t forgotten. 

Eleven either understood that, or was too intent on finally getting started to clarify what he meant, and really, whatever it was, Erik didn’t care. Anything at all to get him to get on with it.

And thankfully, he didn’t have to wait much longer.

El braced his hands on the bed, lifted his hips up just the barest amount, and Erik began to lose track of exactly what he was doing.

Not that he really  _ needed  _ to keep track of every last little movement El made, every little half-broken sound he tried to suppress. Not when there were more important things.

Erik forced his fingers to move from where they’d twisted in the sheets, to grab El’s hips. To hold on as tight as he could, guide how he moved and leave bruises to stake his claim. Even if he was the only one who would see them. But El had other plans. “No,” he took Erik’s wrists, and pressed them back into the sheets, “you’re not allowed to touch.”

There were padded cuffs in the box. He really should have mentioned that before. Oh, well. A little surprise for later. “Why not?”

“I told you. I’m doing all the work.”

“Any other… rules I should know about?” Erik asked, needing to stop in the middle of his sentence before the words he was trying to say became unintelligible.

“Do you want other rules?” Eleven asked, clearly not having the same trouble. 

“Maybe I do,” Erik said, for some completely unknown reason, “if you can come up with any.”

A clear challenge, but not one that Eleven was taking very seriously. 

At least, until Erik nearly reached his climax again. And Eleven stopped.  _ Again.  _ “How about this: don’t come until I tell you to?”

A pipe dream. No way he was even going to  _ try  _ holding back now.

If Eleven was going to keep doing this, then by hell Erik was going to be a brat. “Sorry, but that one isn’t happening tonight.” Wait — morning? Oh, who fucking cared?

“A shame.” Eleven said, “Just try to hold off, then.” He started to move again, and Erik knew that was the end for him. “I’m not done with you yet.”

He could try, of  _ course  _ he could try, that seemed to be all he was doing already.

But as such… He couldn’t make any promises.

And it seemed like Eleven didn’t even expect him to try, or maybe he did, and was trying to set some sort of challenge.

He leaned back on his hands, rolled his hips once, and set a brutal pace that made Erik scream one curse to wake the dead.

One challenge that Erik was all too happy to lose.

He knew he was making all sorts of sounds, uttering El’s name over and over, but he didn’t care. Didn’t try to stop.

Not when it was all he could do to just keep his hands off of El. 

There, he was already following one rule. Was that not good enough?

One arm over his eyes, to block out the lights or maybe to just hide the way they were watering, and the other holding as tight to the pillow as he could… 

_ “Fuck,  _ El. I’m-”

“Go ahead.” El told him as if he needed the permission. “Come for me, bluejay?”

Oh.  _ Oh,  _ so that was what he was going for?

And well, maybe he could follow that second rule after all.

And in  _ that case…  _ He’d need to break the other rule, instead.

Before El could pull them away again, Erik grabbed him by the hips, and thrusted up into him, again and again, until he didn’t have anything left to give.

And when he finally came back down… El was still hard, badly touched since he started.

But there were harder things to fix.

“Come over here.”

“Are you sure?” Eleven asked, “you don’t have to. I can take care of myself if you don’t-”

Really, how many times did they need to have this conversation? “Look,” he said, “if you really just want to go jack off that badly, be my guest. But if you want me to suck your dick, then you’re gonna need to get your ass up here right fuckin’ now.”

“Bossy.” Eleven commented, but he did as Erik asked.

Smart choice. 

Eleven sighed contentedly as Erik took him into his mouth, finally getting what he needed.

Erik again held to his hips, finally got to make those marks he wanted to, and used his grip to urge Eleven closer. 

And if he was so inclined, there wasn’t anything stopping him from reaching behind to try and bring him to the edge faster, except for the little fact that Eleven was  _ already  _ a mess, and he really didn’t want to make it any worse.

Good thing that wasn’t his only option.

Instead, Erik released his grip, and reached between his legs, touched against the soft skin, hoped he had the right spot, and massaged gently up. 

Eleven froze.  _ Got it.  _ “Oh, god.” Eleven breathed out, hands moving from Erik’s wrists to the bed frame to just keep himself upright, and if only Erik’s mouth wasn’t busy, otherwise…  _ you don’t have to call me ‘god,’ Ellie.  _ “Fuck,  _ Erik.  _ Don’t stop, I’m almost…” He tried to pull away, presumably to avoid coming in Erik’s mouth, as if he didn’t know by now that Erik didn’t care. On the contrary, really.

So instead of letting El move, he held on tighter, took him further in, and swallowed around him until he was shivering.

After that, he supposed he could let him go, to get off of Erik and collapse in the sheets next to him.

“What the hell was  _ that?”  _ Eleven asked the moment he had the breath to spare.

“...what was what?”

“T-the thing you did.” Eleven said, mimicking the motion Erik had been doing. “With your fingers.”

Erik just stared at him, a little slow to catch on at the moment. “Uh, your prostate?” He tried to explain. How the hell has Eleven gone all this time without knowing? “I thought you would know-”

“Shut up, I know what it  _ was,  _ I just mean… I didn’t know you could… do that. That way. Just shut up.” His face had gone red. Redder than it had been all morning, somehow. “Wait, is that why you have that piercing?” Really, how many times was he going to ask that question?

“You didn’t know?” Erik asked, letting his head fall back into the pillow. Oh, well. There goes  _ another  _ fantasy for Eleven to shoot down. “I would’ve thought  _ you _ would know, mr. hotshot doctor.”

“Unfortunately, none of my A&P classes covered how to have good gay sex.” Eleven answered as dryly as he possibly could. 

“A shame.” Erik said, prepared to leave it at that, when another stupid thing he could say occurred to him. And as such was life, living without a filter… “What about bad gay sex?”

Eleven’s head shot up from where he’d pillowed it in his arms. “You trying to start something?”

Erik stared right back. “So what if I am? Gonna prove me wrong?”

Now that it was  _ possible  _ again…

If he could just goad El into a second round, before they had to get their day going, he’d count the day as a success. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was so fucking hard to post ohmygodwhy.  
> The universe didn’t want me posting it so I fucking made sure I did.


End file.
